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A Failure of Leadership

Why Nobody Cares about Somalia

by Rakiya Omaar in an interview with Nyta Mann and Charles English
THE United Nation. luu> taken ao very long to tackle the Somalia •ItuaUon becauxe It la e»cn Maliy a political organeiation The people who r ail the ahota at the UN are the permanent member, of the Security Council
For ten yeara the United State, wu. pumping million, and million, of dollar* of ao ph let tea ted armamenta into Somalia They pmvtded the aid aaaiatance and the diplomatic support that allowed the former dictator. President Siad Barre to pursue hU dlvt dvr policies and to eland up to opposition at home and the growing erttklsm abroad
Once the Cold War ended they could evacuate their en> bassk-s and decrease the num ber of people working there When the fighting got bad tliey turned their back. American embassy officials in Nairobi suggested the entire turned their backs. American embassy officials tn Nairobi suggested the entire country should be paved over and turned into a parking lot
They don I care They no longer need Somalia — it’s just a problem — this Is how a senior American diplomat was quoted, In the Washington Post of all places
The UN left In January 1991 when Siad Barre was de posed. Nobody was paying any attention to Somalia
Why did it take so long to act? Well, the incestuous and destructive relationship be tween the press. TV foreign editors and relief agencies had a lol to do with IL
They all fed on each other in a very unhelpful way. They
are fust interested when they think other people are doing they story. For us tt is not a story. It is our lives, you know?
At least four months before the UN fled Somalia the capital in which they were living — never mind the rural areas — was already a killing field with widespread looting. Many em hassles had already evacuated their personnel. Most were afraid to go out at night
They did not flee a lovely little settled town They fled a place that had already become a nightmare and they knew what would happen I've seen memos to Perez de Cuellar the former Secretary General, written at the end of 1990. from people within the UN
warning him what would happen in Somalia.
But he was still busy with Ir4q and the hostages and El Salvador — things that mat tered more to people in the Security Council — and he couldn't care leas about Somalia
The regional blocs to which Somalia belongs — the Organisation of Afrkan Unity, the Islamic Conference and the Arab League — don't care. The Islamic conferenoe and the Arab League Include some of the richest countries In the world They are awash with money Many have also been involved in the wars In Somalia
I have just returned from along trip to the north of So
maba where dozens of people are killed or maimed by landmines. Where are those landmines from? From Pakistan. from Egypt — the allies of the West
The thing about the Cold War is that It was not exclu slveiy the USSR and the US. but also their allies - Cuba. East Germany and others on one side Saudi Arabia. Egypt on the other. All pumping tn armaments and following the lead from the superpower
And where now Is the or ganisatton of African Unity? Have you heard them say any thing about Somalia? No one is asking that they launch what Is required which is essentially the largest relief operation In
the world.
What they are required to do is supply the political and moral leadership which would force the Security Council to take the leadership. But they didn't care.
Somalia Is an impoverished country that isn't of interest to anyone Its neighbours aren't doing anything The regional organisations aren't doing anything Foreign editors in New York. London and Paris don't care because tt isn't a "story." So who the hell cares?
This Is almost as much a scandal for the relief agencies as It Is for the UN There were only five relief agencies in Somalia until very recently Where were all the others? No.
If you areTwhlte journalist .or a white relief worker you
describing it as the moat dan gerous place to be.
More white people have been killed in Nairobi where
hobdays. Only one man — a Belgian foreign worker trying to distributed food himself — was killed directly
Not to say that it is wonderful and fun and relaxed, but the discomfort hasn t stopped relief workers or journalists or the UN in Sarajevo. And Sarajevo where UN troops are is continuously shelled.
Where are the African journalists? Who are the three prominent politicians who have gone to Somalia tn the last few weeks?
It is the Irish Foreign Minister It Is the French Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Bernard Kouchner, and Nancy Kassebaum. a US Republican senator.
What on earth is preventing an African leader from going? If Mitterrand can go to Sarajevo to show that the world cares about what is happening there — there are more than 52 African leaders — why can t they go and show the people of Mogadishu that they care?
Many of them are former soldiers anyway — all these macho men. well, where are they? It to a failure of leadership _ GEMINI NEWS
RAKIYA OMAAR a Somali. to director of the human rights organKtafion, African Watch